


Once Upon A Time in Kepler

by CryptidCanary



Series: Taz: Amnesty Mafia AU [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: AU, Angst, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I don't know how to tag things yet this is my first fanfiction I'll fix this later, M/M, Mafia AU, Oh no what have I done I should be sorry but I'm not, Other, Romance, Suffering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:54:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21628696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptidCanary/pseuds/CryptidCanary
Summary: Every action has a reaction. All it takes is a snowflake to set off an avalanche.An Amnesty Mafia AU inspired by some the amnestymafia/pineguardmafia tags on tiktok.A special shout out to void.punk and reckless.good on tiktok for being my inspiration for this series!!!
Relationships: Barclay/Agent Stern (The Adventure Zone), Dani/Aubrey Little, Indrid Cold/Duck Newton, Jake Coolice/Hollis
Series: Taz: Amnesty Mafia AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558864
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	Once Upon A Time in Kepler

Hollis frowned over their drink, watching the light’s reflection dance off the ice. He could have still been there, then this wouldn’t have been such a problem. They sighed and thumbed the glass, unable to tear their eyes from the ice. It just brought them right back.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Kepler was hot this time of year, almost unbearably so at any hour. It was late, only a few hours left until sunrise, though the dark streets were going to get a lot brighter a lot faster if Keith didn’t shut up. Hollis ran a hand through their hair and shot Keith a look, who finally took the hint and went quiet for the moment.

The outside of the house was silent, however, Hollis could hear their heart pumping in their chest, nerves and adrenaline simultaneously building. If they could get away with tagging Sheriff Owens’ house, they really could get away with anything. There was such a rush surrounding it. Hollis felt a nudge at their side and looked over to Keith expecting to be handed a can of spray paint, but instead Keith looked a little nervous.

“Do you see that?” As if his whisper shout wasn’t enough, his point was absolutely not subtle. 

There on the roof slowly moving out of the second story window was a figure, in the dim moonlight there wasn’t much to make out from the distance other than an obnoxiously yellow jacket. If Keith wasn’t going to get them caught, this kid would. The jacket was moving fairly quickly, silently making its way down 

“Hey!” Keith whisper-shouted before Hollis could stop him, leaning dangerously closer to shouting than whispering. This time it definitely caught the figure’s attention, and they seemed to lose their balance for a moment before regaining it and climbing down at a much faster rate, hopping to the ground just in time for an upstairs light to flip on. 

“Dammit.” Hollis cursed, trying to see some kind of better exit in the low lighting. Another upstairs light flipped on and the figure, someone with blond hair who couldn’t have been older than Hollis and Keith, darted past the duo before turning to face them, a bandana covering his mouth.  
“Follow me!” His voice was hushed, but loud enough for them to hear over the shouting that was beginning to come from the house. There wasn’t enough time to think it over as fight or flight kicked in. The two took off behind him, following the highlight of yellow into the woods. 

After what felt like an eternity, they finally all came to a stop to catch their breath. Hollis’ lungs felt like they were on fire. It was the second fastest they had probably run in their life. The feeling of relief and adrenaline that washed over them was practically intoxicating. 

The blond laughed breathlessly from under his bandana, while Hollis and Keith both were tripoding against a tree desperately trying to catch their breath. Hollis shifted their gaze up and finally got a chance to take him in: short messy blond hair and a lithe but athletic build, wearing a lot of bright colours for someone who had clearly broken into a house. The guy in the yellow vest finally seemed to catch his breath and pulled down the yellow bandana that had been secured around most of his face revealing a large toothy grin.

“Now that was gnarly!” He laughed again standing up a bit straighter as he held out his hand. “I’m Jake.” His bright blue eyes were almost glowing in the moonlight.

It was a dumb move. They were strangers, either one of them could have turned him in immediately. They’d seen this guy’s face, knew his name. Jake had clearly been careful enough so far to hide his features, and likely would have gone fully unnoticed if it wasn’t for Keith. Everything about this screamed reckless.

“Are you stu-“

“Hollis”, they said with a nod, cutting Keith off. They gave Jake’s hand a quick shake, just long enough to feel just how much he was shaking. Maybe it was the adrenaline causing the blood to still pound away in their ears, but Hollis had a good feeling about this guy. Something about the dumb cocky grin and the way he was acting like he just went for the ride of his life despite shaking like a leaf drew Hollis in. 

Jake turned his attention over to Keith patiently and held his hand out again, his smile not faltering for a second despite Keith’s annoyed expression. Keith shot Hollis a quick glare but gave in, keeping his arms crossed he gave a short “Keith.” This seemed to be more than enough for Jake who was practically beaming. 

It was the start of something, and they weren’t sure if they regretted it or not.

Jake had been quickly introduced as a staple to all of their schemes, he could palm anything, get into anywhere, and was willing to do whatever would get him that rush of adrenaline. He blended quickly into the makeshift group, joining them at first just when they needed his skillset, but, was very soon invited to hang out afterwards, his personality seeming to just brighten any room he stepped into. Jake had a smile that could easily light up three Keplers, and Hollis loved how much that their ideas were what kept it on his face. It was an easy decision to ask him to join. 

Jake was practically bouncing as Hollis handed him the knitted yellow and black beanie. That thousand-watt toothy smile that made Hollis’s knees go weak just shining before them on his face.

“Thank you!” There was no time at all between Jake accepting the hat, putting it on, and pulling Hollis into a tight hug. They could feel so much heat radiating through them, rising to their cheeks as Jake kept them close.

“You’ve been one of us, might as well make it official.” They said coolly, even though inside they felt like they were melting. Jake had that effect on them a lot. 

It felt like it had been a long time and yet not long enough when Jake finally pulled away.

“I won’t let you down.” He promised before darting over to the mirror propped against the run-down, rusty wall of the abandoned bar they’d all lovingly deemed The Hornet’s Nest. 

Hollis felt themselves inhale but couldn’t recall how long they held it as they watched Jake finger gun to himself in the mirror. His laugh at his own expression filled the nearly empty room and made it feel so full of life. 

“What a dork.” Keith snorted, rolling his eyes as he walked over to match Hollis’ position leaning against the wall before offering them a beer. Hollis however was too distracted to notice, their eyes remaining fixed on Jake. 

It was late, much closer to morning than night, and Hollis, Keith, and Jake had just ridden back in with one of the best scores they’d ever gotten. A bag and several pockets full of jewelry, diamond necklaces, expensive looking broaches, watches, and they hadn’t even made a dent in what was there. The entire home had screamed money. Jake had been scouting it for days only to find out the couple that owned it were going on a weekend business trip; it was the luckiest any of them had ever gotten. Jake and Keith cheered around the table as they both spilled their pockets, excitedly eyeing the table. Every item they eyed seemed to be shinier than the last. Adrenaline still coursed through everyone’s veins. 

“Hollis! This is it! We can finally start really fixing the Hornet’s Nest, this has to be worth a small fortune!” Jake’s blue eyes scanned the room then darted back to the jewelry on the table like he was trying to decide just how much it would cover. As far as Hollis could tell, he’d pinned it down to the cent in seconds.

“We can head a town or two over tomorrow and see what we can pawn it for, but it’s a start.” Hollis looked proudly over the Hornet’s Nest. In nearly a year they had managed to replace most of the piping and the flooring, and just with that alone the Hornets’ Nest looked significantly better. The scores had only gotten bigger and bigger since Jake joined them, but Hollis knew there had to be more they could do.

“If Chicane wasn’t so shady, we wouldn’t have to go two hours out.” Keith complained, heading over to the cheap mini fridge he and Jake managed to take after robbing said small tourist trap. 

“Aren’t you the one who told him we didn’t need him?” Jake asked innocently, but the grin on his face told a different story. Keith sneered and playfully bumped Jake as he passed him, who only laughed as he headed towards the fridge himself, shaking out his still trembling hands. Jake always ended up with too much left-over energy after big jobs; Hollis thought it was cute.

Hollis thought a lot of things about Jake were cute. 

“If you don’t want to ride on no sleep you should probably head home and get some.” Hollis said, not taking their eyes off Jake, who was digging through the small fridge. 

“I’ll be fine, I’ve ran off less sleep.” Keith shrugged. Hollis’s eyes darted back over to Keith who was looking at them. Hollis narrowed his eyes and looked from Keith to Jake and back again a few times hoping Keith would get the hint.

“You good?” Hollis couldn’t tell if Keith genuinely didn’t get the hint or if he was just being a dick. Keith looked at Hollis’ pleading expression and then glanced over to Jake, who was spending way too much time deciding between the only two drinks left in the fridge, a smug grin making its way across his face. “Actually, I am pretty tired.” 

Jake finally looked up out of the fridge in so much shock you’d think Keith had said he was planning on going out and killing baby seals. “I have no clue how you could sleep! We easily just grabbed thousands of dollars’ worth of stuff in one go! I think it’ll be weeks until I lose this rush!”

“This was nothing, last month I outrode a cop. Now that? That’s a rush.” Keith strode towards the backroom, stopping to flick Jake’s forehead. Whether the short story was true or not was debatable. Hollis would have been the first one to know if it had actually happened, and they didn’t have time to question it before Keith disappeared with a very smug sounding “Niiight.” 

And then it was just the two of them. Jake finally made his way back over to the table with a large blue Gatorade and went into separating the jewelry into sets. “What about you Hollis? What’s the biggest rush you’ve gotten?”

A series of images of rushed through Hollis’ mind: a very tired Jake sleepily handing them a mug of tea, Jake’s loud bubbling laugh following a joke Hollis had made, Jake’s signature toothy grin after doing something slightly mischievous, Jake looking up at them with nervous big blue eyes and red cheeks as Hollis pressed them both into a closet narrowly keeping them from getting caught.

“Tax evasion.” Jake choked on his drink trying to fight away the laughter until he swallowed. Hollis felt could feel their heartbeat quicken as they coolly made their way to sit at the table with Jake. 

“Even if you had, there’s no way that is your biggest rush.” Jake said trying and failing to keep himself from laughing. Hollis grabbed the Gatorade taking a small swig and nodded gravely, their expression remaining serious despite the strong urge that Jake’s laugh gave them to laugh along.

“Nothing brings me more of a rush than angering the government.” Jake’s laughter, which had only barely died down was back in full force again, filling the room with a warm bright feeling. If Keith was actually trying to sleep, he probably wasn’t getting far.

“Come on, what’s the real answer? Is it something I haven’t heard of? There’s gotta be some kind of story, come on Hollis.” Jake leaned closer, inches away from Hollis’ face, and propped his face in his hands to make it clear he wasn’t going anywhere without a real answer. 

“And what if I said it was you?” Hollis kept their usual cool tone, but they felt immediately nervous, trying to scan Jake’s expression for anything negative. To their surprise however, Jake’s wide smile wasn’t going away, though his face was getting a bit red. Jake laughed nervously but didn’t back away. 

“Very funny, but-“

“And what if I wasn’t joking Jake?” Jake’s eyes went wide, his expression nervous but he wasn’t moving away. Trying to safely test the waters, they leaned closer. Jake shifted back slightly, but not by much, and Hollis smirked. “You have a crush on me, don’t you Jake?” 

The cool persona they were keeping was starkly contrasted by the fact they could barely hear themself over the blood loudly pumping in their ears, but they got their answer as Jake nodded slightly before blinking and finally moving back and jumping to his feet. 

“No, I, um. Well,” Jake nervously tugged at the bandana around his neck, eyes darting nervously around the room. “I wouldn’t say crush really I just- Wow it’s warm in here. You know I think I left my bike on-“ 

“No you didn’t.” Hollis could feel the Cheshire cat-esque expression taking over their features.

“No, I didn’t.” Jake nervously laughed in agreement, eyes still looking everywhere else like there was some kind of sign hanging up that would give him a good lie to cover up his odd behavior if he found it. Hollis sat back in the chair and watched him sputter nervously with a smirk and a raised eyebrow for a minute feeling more than satisfied by the reaction.

“Come outside with me for a while,” Hollis stood up grabbing their jacket off the chair and tossing Jake’s over to him, who caught it fairly easily despite still looking at Hollis, his eyes wide. “Stars were pretty cool tonight, might help you cool off for a bit.” 

Jake blinked a few times before finally registering what Hollis said, his large toothy smile back on his face. Hollis could feel a small smile make its way onto their face. “Yeah! Did you see the moon while we were riding back?” Jake rushed over to the door holding it open for Hollis, nothing but excitement covering his features.

This became a constant thing for the duo, with Keith sometimes joining them. The three had a habit of getting sappy under the stars, but didn’t looking at the stars with people you’re close with do that to everyone? It was under the stars that the three of them had been spit-balling ideas for the future of the Hornet’s Nest. 

The stars were even brighter as Jake and Hollis booked it through the woods, the sound of the crunching fall leaves and their hearts pounding loud in both their ears. The two finally stopped to catch their breath, Jake practically collapsing against a tree trying to catch his, Hollis soon doing the same. The two looked at each other and couldn’t help the building laughter of relief that spilled over their lips. 

“Do you think they’ll know who did it?” Jake gasped out through laughs as he pulled down the bright yellow bandana that had been covering half his face.

“They didn’t see our faces, how could they?” Hollis pulled their bandana down feeling themself shiver as the cold fall hit their overheating face.

It felt like time had stopped as the two laughed and tried desperately to catch their breath, only to start laughing again when they made eye contact. Eventually Jake stopped, his large sparkling blue eyes locking onto Hollis. Jake was practically shining under the moonlight, and Hollis didn’t feel so cold anymore. 

“Hey Hollis?” Jakes usually loud voice was barely a whisper. 

“Yeah?” Hollis felt themself swallow hard, warmth spreading through their face.

“Would it be cool if I kissed you?” Jake barely had time to finish the sentence before Hollis had pulled him in by his shirt. 

The two of them could have stayed like that forever. Forget every story, every break in, every chase, every stunt, this was it. This was the biggest rush Hollis had felt. Jake finally pulled back softly gasping for air, and Hollis let out a nervous chuckle. 

Suddenly the bubble they were in popped as the harsh glare of a flashlight hit Hollis’ eyes. 

“Damn kids…Hey uhhh you two can’t be out here.” Hollis glared up at the silhouette of the man wearing some kind of dumb hat who was shining the flashlight right in their eyes.

Jake was first on his feet, grabbing Hollis’s arm to help them up. “Oh sorry ranger dude, we just got like. Lost. We’re heading out,” he mumbled sheepishly. 

“Yeah I get it, don’t gotta paint me a picture just uhh if you two could go. You fellas really can’t uhh…Be here.” Hollis blinked a few times to readjust to the darkness.

“Yeah we’re going.” They sighed, taking Jake’s hand and leading the way back towards town. Hollis knew Jake wasn’t very good under pressure.

“Thanks for not calling the cops!” Jake cheerfully called back as they passed the seemingly exhausted ranger. Hollis tugged on his hand leading them both back into a sprint towards town, which soon turned into a race. 

When the two could finally see familiar half painted exterior of The Hornet’s Nest, the sun was starting to rise, brightly glowing down at the pair who were back to being out of breath and giggly as they slowed to a walk, holding hands again. 

“So what do we call this?” Jake asked with a small laugh, holding up both their hands. Hollis couldn’t even try to fight the smile on their own face.

“What do you want it to be?” 

“Partners in crime is pretty cool, but it’d be pretty tubular to be your boyfriend maybe.” Jake said the last part quietly. Hollis squeezed his hand.

“Yeah, that would be pretty ‘tubular’, Jake,” they assured, and there it was again, that blinding smile competing with the rising sun. It felt safe, comfortable, like for the first time, everything could be okay. 

It was just last week that they saw finally him again, Hollis felt cold just thinking about it. They could see it so clearly. Jake was with known members of The Pine Guard, outside of Barclay’s, a little diner not far away from the Pizza Hut owned by Amnesty Lodge. The competition. Jake knew that. The Pine Guard was one of the biggest families in Kepler, full of monsters. Hollis couldn’t breathe as they watched him look up, his big blue eyes locking in for less than a second before darting to the ground. 

Jake’s hands moved up to fiddle with his untied tie hanging around his neck, an expensive white blazer replacing the yellow denim jacket and black leather jacket combination they had been so used to seeing him in. A Pokémon hat replaced the beanie that had been thrown back in their face barely a week ago. One of the people who was with Jake, a girl with a curly red undercut, put her hand on his arm looking at him with concern. 

“Jake, what’s up?” 

Another girl with long blonde hair in a sundress glanced over in Hollis’ direction, her eyes narrowing into a glare before pushing Jake back towards the door of the diner. “Let’s just get inside, Barclay isn’t going to be happy if we let his pie get cold.” 

And just like that he was gone again. Hollis had felt like all the air had been knocked out of them, they couldn’t believe it, they didn’t want to. They wanted to feel angry, but Hollis just found themself wanting to lay down. 

Hollis took a swing of their drink and slammed it into the polished mahogany wood of the counter. Keith looked up from the conversation he was having with their newest recruit and walked over, resting his hand on their shoulder and leaning in. “He isn’t even worth our time. He’s just another fuckin’ loser.” 

“He wasn’t, and that’s why this sucks.” Hollis tsked, and got up without another word brushing Keith away as they walked outside.

**Author's Note:**

> And so it begins!!!
> 
> This chapter was directly inspired by https://vm.tiktok.com/9CFnxb/
> 
> This is my first time posting a fanfiction! I have been so excited to write for this AU and I have a lot planned!!! The next chapter will be present rather than memory based like this one is!!!


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